Databases may be used to store information with varied privacy needs. For example, these needs can be dictated by laws and agreements. Privacy needs can also be driven by customer relationships and trade secrets. Data requiring a high degree of privacy can be mixed with data requiring a lower degree of privacy because of the related nature of the data. For example, a person's name might be associated with a credit risk, where the name itself may not have a high privacy importance, but the credit risk information may require a high degree of privacy as it is stored with the person's name.
Some databases have been secured through database engine encryption and encryption during transit. Both of these methods assume trust of the administrator. For example, database engine encryption uses the database engine to encrypt and decrypt data. The encryption bolsters security by storing database contents in an encrypted form, but also gives access to all of the data to anyone who holds the root database password or has the ability to change the root database password. In another example, encryption during transit, such as encrypted database communications, protects data during transmission, but leaves the data within the database unprotected without more. In some installations, such as a shared database server, a database user may not have the ability to setup or secure a database. While various techniques have been employed to effectively secure databases, due to the complexity of the tasks, the employed techniques are of varied success.